Men's Basketball Recaps: Feb. 24

Arkansas-Pine Bluff 75, Grambling State 66GRAMBLING, LA. – The Grambling State University men's basketball team saw its 11-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night with a 75-66 loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) game at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.

Nigel Ribeiro paced the Grambling State (15-13 Overall, 11-4 SWAC) offense with 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Shirmane Thomas added 12 points, two rebounds and two assists. Ivy Smith, Jr. chipped in 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Travon Harper led Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 16 points, six rebounds, and two blocks, while Terrance Banyard registered 12 points, five rebounds, three blocks and one steal.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-18, 11-5), which came into the game tied for second in SWAC with Southern, led for over 32 minutes and by as many as 13 points

--Grambling State Sports Information

Alcorn State 89, Southern 85LORMAN, MS – Extending its home winning-streak to five games, the Alcorn State University men's basketball program posted an 89-85 victory over Southern on Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.

Alcorn (11-18, 7-9 SWAC) ended Southern's (14-15, 10-6 SWAC) five-game winning-streak. The Jags had won nine of their last 10 entering the game.

Senior A.J. Mosby, the reigning SWAC Player of the Week winner, poured in a game-high 24 points to go along with his five assists and four rebounds. Junior Dante Sterling also had a big night with 22 points.

Off the bench, freshman Troymain Crosby registered a career-high 17 points and also secured six rebounds.

The Braves were 29-of-35 (.829) from the free throw line. The 29 makes were a season-high.Alcorn turned it over just eight times which was a season-low.

The Jaguars were led by Jared Sam who recorded 23 points and seven rebounds. Eddie Reese and Jamar Sandifer scored 19 points apiece.

The Braves (10-18, 6-9 SWAC) have won three of their last four games. The Jags (14-14, 10-5 SWAC) have won five in a row and nine of their last 10.

Dennis Jones led the Panthers in scoring with 23 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. The junior guard also had three assists and three steals. Zachary Hamilton tallied 15 points, six rebounds, and a pair of assists in 27 minutes of action. Gary Blackston registered 14 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while J.D. Wallace chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds and shot 66 percent from the floor.

The Panthers (12-17, 9-6 SWAC) and the Hornets (7-20, 7-8 SWAC) traded baskets during the opening minutes of play. Jones’ three pointer tied the game at 10 with 15:49 to go in the first half. The Panthers outscored the Hornets 6-2 in the following minutes to take a 16-12 lead with 12:40 to go. The run was keyed by baskets from Jones, Hamilton and Blackston.

Branden Johnson scored a career-high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds – including four offensive rebounds. Reginald Gee led Alabama State with 17 points, adding a pair of assists and a blocked shot. Jacoby Ross added 16 points and three assists, while Tobi Ewuosho added 12 points and five rebounds.

--Prairie View A&M and Alabama State Sports Information

Jackson State 60, Mississippi Valley State 59JACKSON, MS – Julian Daughtry made a go-ahead 3-point basket with 6:26 remaining to give the Tigers a 52-49 edge that they would not give up for the remainder of the game.

With Jackson State clinging to a one-point lead, the Delta Devils misfired on three shot opportunities to take the lead in the closing 1:31 of the game.

Texas Southern 106, Alabama A&M 71HOUSTON, TX – The Texas Southern Tigers scored early and often en route to a 106-71 dominating win over Alabama A&M on Saturday night at the HPE Arena.

TSU's Derrick Bruce paced the Tigers offensive attack as he tallied a game high 35 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Fellow teammate Demontrae Jefferson wasn't going to be left out of the action as he racked up 28 points, followed by Donte Clark's 21 and Cainan McClelland's 10 points.

"We're trying to adapt to a different style of play," said TSU head coach Mike Davis. "We've had several changes to our roster over the course of the past few days and now we're trying to get better each and every game moving forward."

Texas Southern led 50-40 at the break and followed up a hot shooting first half with an equally hot second half of shooting from the field. TSU shot 61 percent from the floor for the game including a 64 percent showing from 3-point range (16-of-25).

Individually, Bruce was impressive shooting the ball for TSU as he went 9-of-12 from beyond the arc. TSU outscored AAMU inside the paint 44-36 and forced 12 Bulldogs' turnovers which turned into 23 points on the offensive end of the floor.